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Feminism is afoot?

Oh, FYI… the shutdown ended. The government is fixed (for now). I’m not covering a dozen articles that all say the same thing; that’s SO boring!

It’s been a busy few days this week. I ran out of allergy meds and started to die, so that was a thing. I managed to read through the news yesterday after catching up on my work, but I didn’t have a chance to post. Funny thing, though… when I added today’s news notes, I noticed a high number of feminism-related articles. Interesting!

I know exactly why these girls pleaded the fifth. They were young teens drinking booze, and our society always blames the victim (especially when alcohol is involved). Once the badgering over their behavior commenced, I’m sure they panicked and pleaded the fifth to protect themselves from being targeted by the very people who were supposed to help them. These girls didn’t know that protecting themselves from harsh questioning would release a rapist.

Our society is broken. As a past-life Amazon (I swear I must’ve been), I’m not sure a boy would survive making the poor choice to rape my daughter. Actually, I’m relatively sure there’d be no body to find, thanks to my extended family of warrior women; in all seriousness, I’m not sure I could stop them from exactly vengeance before the cops could pursue “justice”.

And thus, I’m glad Anonymous is around. They worked for justice in Steubenville, and I’m hoping they can work for justice in Maryville, too. I think of Anonymous as peer pressure to do the right thing; they don’t go out and fix the problem, but they push those in power to do so as soon as possible.

There is only so much you can do for a child. I’ll be honest; I was a chubby kid, but I never faced bullying from people in school. Instead, my mom told me not to wear that short shirt, because my belly showed. Or those pants made me into a muffin top. Or if I gained weight and needed another size larger, I’d be on a diet. I love my mom, and she’s the kind of parent I hope to be… except when it comes to body image.

I lost tons of weight when we moved to my second high school, but I was still in the “you’re fat” mindset; my self-confidence was non-existent for a long time. Actually, it’s the men in my life (from teenage years to now) who have reaffirmed that I’m beautiful as is.

Wow… this explains why you’ll see something similar in a dozen places, all with only the slightest differences in appearance (and huge differences in price). I hope lawsuits put this sneaky company out of business for copyright infringement.

A character costume should look like the character. Period. Why is a Spider-Girl costume looking more like Barbie’s reject spider princess? No. Just no. I can ignore the stupid, hyper-feminine costumes everywhere, but I draw the line at blatant deconstruction of a character into a pink monster. You shouldn’t have to shop for a reasonable costume in the boys’ section.

I happen to find Collins’ t-shirt design tasteless and unnecessary, but the picture that had her Instagram account closed down was nothing. Some pubes showed around the edges of a regular-sized bikini bottom. Not her labia, or her butt cheeks. Some hair is what set off the censorship police. Considering the kinds of risqué pictures on Instagram, I have to say she’s right that she’s being censored for not sticking to the unspoken rules of hairless, skinny “sexy”.

I really just want the GOP to split into traditional (mellow) Republicans and Tea Party members. We could use a three-party system, rather than the current lockout that keeps us limited to two parties. More people would be satisfied if there were a variety of options out there, rather than the lesser of two evils.

Random thought (not really based on this article’s contents): Why is it always considered bad when Islam is intertwined with a country’s legal system? Christianity plays a huge role in ours, and we’ve slowly removed pieces that we’ve found tasteless (like anti-sodomy laws targeting gay men). We accept several of the Ten Commandments as law: killing is illegal, adultery is punishable in divorce court and the military, stealing is illegal, and lying to get someone in legal trouble is illegal. In a way, our censorship laws accept part of not taking the Lord’s name in vain (also a commandment), though we tend to censor nudity and vulgarity instead (still based on Puritan/Christian ethics).

Why is it okay that we have a patriarchal Christian-focused society, but another country can’t have the same in a Muslim flavor? I don’t believe we’d accept an Islamic country to be as good as America, even if it had less harsh laws and punishments than those we often see today… simply because it isn’t Christian.

It’s been three and a half years since I miscarriage, and it still scares me. I worry about my next pregnancy, and about not being able to carry a child to term. Thanks to the internet, I knew shortly after my miscarriage that it wasn’t my fault and it happens pretty regularly. I will always tell and retell my story, because I want other women to feel less alone.

Right now, to be a creep (or judgmental jerk), you have to take out your cell phone and try to go unnoticed. I don’t like Google Glass, because it removes the obvious act of filming and photography and replaces it with something invisible. I mean, if a Glass user is nearby, I essentially need to pretend I’m on film until I’m out of their sight; I have no control over whether or not they hit “record”. I tend to love new tech, but Google Glass is a can of worms we’re not ready for.

Here’s an example of what happens when you walk into a situation where you’re unaware that a Glass user is recording (you can skip to the 1:00 minute mark to see Lee moon Phil):